


Muses

by CaptainJ



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Artist Josh, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5127341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJ/pseuds/CaptainJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coffee shops always make for amazing people watching, and are a never ending supply of inspiration for a struggling artist. So many different faces, body types, styles of dress and personalities! So many muses packed together in a single space, each unique and different in their own little way. Then there was her. She was always here, and stirred something inside he couldn’t quite explain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Muses

**Author's Note:**

> This post is brought to you by: Scribes-Scribbles - A Tumblr Blog

“Back again, Joshua?” A cheerful voice chimed from behind the counter as he entered the front door. 

Josh looked up from his phone and caught sight of Ashley, the cheerful Barista at the little coffee joint he always visited after class. He smiled a little as he stepped up to the counter, tucking his phone in his pocket. “Hey Ash, and yeah, you know me. I need my usual fix.” He twitched his eye a little, as if going through withdrawals. 

Ashley rolled her eyes and grabbed a cup, writing his name on the side. “I swear, you’re going to OD on this stuff one of these days.” A pause as she looked up at him, “Americano right?”

“Make it a Quad please, I have a shit ton of homework to do.” He fished in his pocket for his wallet. “Anyone good?” He asked nonchalantly. Ashely was one of the few people who even knew he was an artist, and had a keen eye for people Josh would enjoy rendering. 

“You missed a few earlier, but nothing too spectacular. A lot of the regulars.” She slid his drink over to him and smiled that mischievous smile she was known for, “She’s here though.” 

Josh’s head snapped up so fast he got a little dizzy. He looked around the coffee shop for the person in question, and when his eyes finally found her form, he nearly gasped in surprise. She was here, and shit she was just as lovely as ever. “Thanks Ash,” He grabbed his drink and rushed to his usual spot by the window. 

_“Be cool, be cool, don’t be weird!”_ He chanted in his mind as he slowed his steps and eased into the chair. He was being too obvious, and way to fucking weird.  _“You’re being creepy. Relax. Breath.”_  He reminded himself as he shrugged off his backpack. While there were multiple schools of thought on his hobby of drawing people without their knowledge, he needed practice, and it wasn’t his fault she was  **always** here when he was. An odd coincidence at worst, fate at best – right? 

Josh opened up his bag and grabbed his sketchbook, along with a few pencils, which weren’t nearly sharp enough for his liking. He growled a little in frustration and grabbed a pen instead. Shit he’d have to make these sketches good if he was going to be using  **pen**. She was perfect in every way, but he wasn’t even remotely confident in his art skills to do her justice. 

_“Its cool man, just be cool. You can do this.”_ He twirled his pen around in his fingers a few times before sucking in a deep breath. “Shit,” He whispered softly, “Shit…” His heart was beating wildly in his chest, like it always did when he found her here at the coffee shop. Why did she have such a hold on him? Like her very presence was something that both terrified and inspired him all at the same time. 

He looked up from his sketch book to get the first real artists ‘look’ at her. She was staring down at the mound of books and papers upon her little table, with a pen between two slender fingers which she twirled around with surprising dexterity. She looked particularly disheveled today, with her hair tied up in a sloppy bun, and an overly large sweater adorning her frame. His heart fluttered a little when she reached forward to grab her mug of coffee and the sleeve of her sweater covered her hand almost completely. She was god damned beautiful. 

His pen worked without him really even paying attention. His eyes were too busy taking in the hairpin curl of her lips, or the soft slope of her nose, and how her jaw – he couldn’t even begin to explain what the angle of her jaw did to him – moved perfectly to complete the line of her profile. 

Her phone buzzed next to her and when she looked over, a smile erupted over her features and his heart nearly fucking stopped. He quickly captured the way her lips pulled up at the corners with just enough force to make dimples form under her cheeks. He worked diligently to form the curve of her lips, which were so beautifully plump and the right color of red which made his heart nearly ache with how cute she was.  _“What’s making you smile..?”_ He mused to himself, one of his own breaking over his features. He couldn’t help it though, she was so damn contagious. 

She finished looking at whatever was on her phone and quickly went back to work, hand groping around the table to try and find her coffee mug. He watched as her eyes stared intently down at the papers before her, but when her hand didn’t find the mug in question, her eyebrows pulled together to form little creases in the center. He smirked a little when she grew concerned enough at not finding her coffee that she had to look up and search the table for it. He liked that look of mild annoyance, it made her bottom lip poke out just enough to be noticeable, and the crease of her eyebrows pulled her face into a pout so perfect it could make the dead crack a grin. 

Josh looked back down at his sketch book and found that the entire page was being filled with her. He had sketches of her drinking her coffee, a few of her reading her books, and one of her smiling. That one was the biggest one, and easily the most detailed. He was working on getting the wispiness of her hair, loving how a few strands curled behind her ears. He wondered if anyone was lucky enough to tuck those strands of hair there. 

The idea settled like a lead weight in his stomach. Someone was lucky enough share moments with her. Someone was lucky enough to be intimate with her. Maybe she went home to someone. Maybe someone came home to her. The idea made his heart ache. Someone had his muse for their own. 

His pen slowly stopped sculpting out the curve of her neck. Josh frowned a little, and then a little more. He didn’t know her, she was just some regular who came to this coffee shop to do homework. Hell, he didn’t even know her fucking  _/name/._ For all he knew, she had a fiancé or a husband or someone generally important to her. Hell, she could even be a lesbian! He knew literally nothing about her, other than her physical beauty. She was a muse of his, and nothing more. The realization that she didn’t even know he existed was a punch to the gut. 

“Hey,” A fruity voice brought him from his thoughts with a start. Josh looked up and found sparkling emerald eyes staring down at him. It was her. Holy shit. It was her! When in the hell had she gotten up and collected her things?! 

His mouth opened and closed like a fish.  _“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! It’s her!”_ She smiled and his heart leapt into his throat. “Don’t frown so much,” She tapped at his sketchbook, which he protectively clutched to his chest. “You’re cute when you smile.” She winked, and shrugged her bag higher up on her shoulder, a little blush coloring her cheeks and the tips of her ears. 

“Uhh,” He croaked, the noise getting stuck in his throat as his mind fizzled into a glare of static. “Y-hea!” His voice cracked and he quickly cleared it to try and regain any sense of pride he previously had. “Yeah, yeah,” He managed to get out, the sound of his heartbeat was pounding so loudly in his ears he couldn’t even tell if he was speaking intelligent words. “I can do that. Yeah.” He could feel his cheeks and neck heat up as a blush overtook him. Shit. Shit she was close enough that he could make out the rosy complexion of her cheeks. 

She smiled brightly and then tapped the table with perfectly manicured fingernails. “Good,” A pause as she suddenly got a little bashful, as if the sudden burst of bravery that somehow brought her here had vanished. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Her blush got even deeper, and before he could even say anything, she retreated to the counter where Ashely was waiting to retrieve her mug. 

Josh slowly sunk into his seat a little deeper than he ever had before. She’d spoken to him. She’d said he was cute when he smiled. She’d see him tomorrow.  “Tomorrow,” A cheer welled up in his throat, and he had to clamp his jaw shut before it dared to escape. 

Ashely grinned from the countertop behind him, her phone buzzing lightly in her hands. Looks like her two favorite regulars were finally going to buck up and talk to one another. She looked down at her phone and quickly typed out a message: 

To Chris: “Operation: Get-Our-Best-Friends-To-Go-Out is a go.”


End file.
